How to Get More Business Referrals from Your Podcast

Referrals are one of the most powerful sales tools at the disposal of most businesses. There is nothing like getting that email from a friend or colleague introducing you to someone they think would be a perfect fit.

As you know, those are often the easiest sales and the best customers.

What business couldn’t use more of them?

A podcast can help you build relationships with referral partners, so they can directly refer business to you by making personal introductions. A referral partner might also share your content to people they think can find it valuable and work with you on any large campaigns you may be running, like book and product launches.

How to Optimize for Referrals

To optimize for more referrals, you have to ask for them.

But you can’t exactly write a fellow business owner a note that says: “Hey, I want you to come on my podcast so you’ll like me enough to send me referrals.”

It would be weird and gross.

A good referral partner is someone who likes and respects you, and more than that; they believe that you can deliver on the promises your business makes. They need a little time to get to know you. They need to see how you are going to treat them so they know how you would treat any referrals they send your way.

To get those referrals you need a couple of things: you need to know who you want to have referred to you, and you need to create the opportunities to comfortably and politely ask for them.

Hopefully, you already have clarity on your niche and ideal customer avatars, and a rock solid quick explanation of your key offers, so to get more referrals what you need from your podcast is:

• access to the people who can refer you new business, and
• a good enough relationship that they are happy to help you.

Usually, this means adding a few steps to your workflow to give yourself the chance to make a really excellent impression.

Here’s an example.

For our podcast, The Company Show (currently on hiatus while we launch a new podcast!) I usually had a prep, or pre-interview call with potential guests. This gave us a chance to get to know each other a little and workshop an amazing episode topic together.

During one of these prep calls, I was talking to my future guest and mentioned that we’d recently adjusted our niche and targeting, and how that was going to impact the podcast, and our conversation. She asked who we were specifically looking to work with going forward, and when I told her - her eyes lit up! “I’ve got an idea!”

She had a great insight for our episode that would speak directly to our new ideal customer, which made our conversation much more vibrant and engaging and valuable to those customers which was amazing.

But it didn’t end there.

After we got off the call, I received an email where she introduced me directly to someone from her own network who fit our new niche, and she thought we could help.

And that’s how it’s done.

When you have a really well-optimized relationship building podcast, you have a great reason to talk to your guests about who you want to work with any why, and enough touchpoints with them that making a request for referrals is natural - and sometimes, you don’t even have to ask!

But you should, and that means making sure you have the opportunity to, through multiple touchpoints over the lifecycle of an episode.

Like:

• The invitation,
• Connecting on social media,
• A prep call,
• The episode recording, including chatting before and after
• A thank you note
• The ‘your episode is ready’ announcement
• A follow up with feedback and audience comments

In your podcast workflow, after a few initial touchpoints, you’ll want to identify one or two different spots where you could make the request, and give your new referral partner the information they need to easily fulfill it, like a description of your ideal client and a little swipe copy. If you offer a referral payment or commission, you can be upfront about that as well.

I like the post-interview chat for that, as well as the message letting them know your episode is live, and maybe when sharing a little feedback you’ve received from listeners.

You might want to experiment with different times to make this kind of request - it can feel a little awkward, but if you are sincerely approaching the relationship as one that is mutually beneficial, and making sure to do “your share” in terms of highlighting them and their work (don’t skip this part!), and supporting them through sharing their content and sending referrals back at them when you can, then it can become quite seamless.

This article is a modified excerpt from Podcasting for Business: How to Create a Show That Makes a Bottom Line Difference for Your Company.

If you want to take your podcast to the next level this year - let’s talk! Book a free strategy call with me and we can figure out how your show can bring more, measurable value to your company! If you haven’t started yet, we can help with that, too.